Contents

Plot

It is the day of the children's summer party and all the engines want the job to take the children. However, to Thomas' disappointment, Emily is taking the children. Thomas' jobs are to collect milk from the dairy and take it to the ice cream factory and then to collect butter from the other side of Sodor and take it to the bakery. Thomas collects the milk churns and goes slowly and carefully until he reaches a junction where Emily approaches and calls him a "slowcoach." Thomas explains that it is important for him to go slowly, but Emily teases him as he could be taking the children if he was not so slow. Angry, Thomas decides to prove Emily wrong and she challenges him to a race to the next signal.

During the race, Thomas speeds up with the churns in his trucks rattling about. His next signal is green, so he gets ahead of Emily and carries on to the ice cream factory, neglecting to slow down. At the ice cream factory, the manager is shocked to see the milk is almost butter due to Thomas' careless speeding, but this time he does not explain why he went so fast. So he orders Thomas to get more milk and go slowly. Thomas hurries back to the dairy, only to find a very angry Fat Controller waiting for him. Time is running out, and unless the bakery has butter, there will be no cakes for the party.

Thomas feels very guilty about the trouble he caused. Once at the ice cream factory, though ordered to take the buttered milk back to the dairy, Thomas has a much better idea. He goes even faster with the churns of buttered milk all the way to the bakery. When Thomas arrives, the baker is confused to see milk churns until Thomas tells him to look inside and to the baker's surprise, the buttered milk is now just butter.

Thomas returns to Tidmouth Sheds where the Fat Controller sees him. Thomas is worried about getting into trouble again, but the Fat Controller is pleased that, thanks to Thomas' idea, he made amends and is sent to the children's summer party as guest of honour.